The CEO Gets Her Man Read Free

gone. Fraternising with guests didn’t appeal. It wasn’t professional, nor could that type of socialising be the answer to his forlorn existence.
    The vice around his chest tightened. Hemi expanding on his theory would only stab more pins into Jase’s still leaky self-control. With his mouth drier than the Sahara, he quickly changed the subject. “Anything I should know about?”
    “It’s been dead quiet.”
    “But?” Jase sensed his friend’s concern.
    Hemi glanced over his shoulder toward the reception area before lowering his voice. “Something’s brewing, Jase. Everyone’s edgy. You have to muzzle that—”
    Jase’s hand wrapped around the other man’s forearm, halting his words. He couldn’t allow a staff member, even a closely trusted staff member, to openly malign the woman running the resort. “I’m on it, Hemi. Just keep your ears open, keep me in touch with everything.” He eyeballed the other man. “Everything, Hem. I need to know what the hell is causing all this unrest. If it’s—”
    “We all know who’s causing it, boss.” Certainty echoed in Hemi’s reply. “You just have to figure out what to do about her.”
    The other man grimaced and wandered back to reception. Jase cursed, and then cursed again. Hemi was right. Subtle investigation over the last few weeks had pointed Jase directly toward the general manager of the resort—and his boss—Madeline Murphy.
    Her mediocre management skills had become apparent to Jase almost as soon as he’d taken the job as operations manager. He’d covered for her, but defending her actions was proving more difficult every day. Her behaviour had become so erratic he even wondered about her mental health.
    His stomach clenched to the hardness of a well-worn river stone as his worries magnified. Not only was his personal life a monotonous empty hole, his bloody job was unravelling too.
    Before his eyes Jase could see this place disintegrating. Only a fool would suggest the resort was profitable. If staff unrest escalated into industrial action the hotel could close. He’d bet the executives in Wellington cared as much about the livelihood of the townspeople as a big fat Sylvester cared about the emotional duress of Tweety Bird.
    Striding along the corridor to his office Jase thumped his thigh, hoping the repetitive action might jostle some useful brain cells. He needed to keep the staff calm and temper his boss’s outbursts. He wanted to figure a way to stave off any chance of industrial action, without calling Head Office.
    ****
    Apart from a text advising she’d arrived safely at Riversleigh, Debra didn’t hear from her mother again that week. With her brother still in Singapore she was inundated with Paul’s workload as well as her own. She put her mother’s worries from her mind.
    Her cell phone started chirping late one night just as Debra had fallen into bed. “Debra. This isn’t working.” Frustration was evident in Karin’s voice. “Madeline Murphy is fawning all over me. It’s disgusting how simpering she is. Ugh! My bones are telling me she’s the problem here, but I can’t find out anything definite except the staff all loath her...”
    So what? This was probably a point in Madeline Murphy’s favour.
    “The operations manager is being so helpful, though. He’s such a lovely boy...”
    Oh, spare me. Debra pulled a face in the mirror opposite her bed. She’d seen Jason McEwan enough times on the rugby field to guess exactly what Karin thought was so “lovely” about him.
    It was more likely the hotel’s problems had nothing to do with their general manager at all. The unprofitability was probably caused by his inexperience at hotel management. Debra shook her head as her mother’s voice rambled on in her ear. Hiring a broken down rugby player to help run a hotel! If she’d had anything to do with the hiring...
    Suddenly the significance of her mother’s words became clear. Her head shot up, clunking itself hard